I can't believe I'm having to post this, but it has been so long since I compiled a new kernel, I actually need some help! I have run the same zen kernel since may of 2011, and it has served me well, however, it's time to upgrade as things are starting to get quirky. I hate to even ask for help, but I thought I might try out a newer gentoo-sources. I manually build and compile using pappy's seeds, but I am so rusty, I am having trouble figuring out what settings I need, so hopefully someone can point out what I've missed. I really appreciate any help I can get! the .config is here: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=p8JY3xSP . my lspci -n: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=3kBVcX3m .

Again, let me say thanks, I truly do appreciate the help I get here!

Todd

Last edited by todd93 on Mon Oct 01, 2012 9:38 pm; edited 1 time in total

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/xorg-config.xml reference for vga card; note that this cannot be modules, requires builtin firmware, kms needs these, if you have kms and an improper config the screen will hang during boot

do not use this section:

Quote:

< > ATA/ATAPI/MFM/RLL support (DEPRECATED) --->

your choices in

Quote:

<*> Serial ATA and Parallel ATA drivers --->

are all that you need along with your scsi choices the deprecated drivers may interfere

Okay, I get that, and have fixed it, but the kernel still won't boot, I continue to get the following error: "vfs cannot open root device sda3 or unknown-block 0 0". I have searched this issue out, and still can't find a solution that works for me. I do understand that the drivers must be built in and not modules, and they are. I think there is obviously more that I have missed here, and hopefully I can get a little more insight on what I need to do.

Once again, I would like to thank everyone for their kind help. I know I probably shouldn't have waited this long before compiling a new kernel, but things were so stable that I didn't want to upset any apple carts, so to speak, until I had to!

I have taken your config and compared it against pappy's and mine then opened it with make oldconfig and then opened it with make menuconfig to add missing items. the only item i saw that could remotely be linked to your panic was config_ahci _platform=y. very unlikely. Other possibilities:
If you are using /dev/hda nomenclature in /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf you should be using /dev/sda type names.
Are you sure /boot partition was mounted when you compiled and copied the new kernel?
to get the new (hopefully improved) kernel:
boot cd, mount gentoo partitions, enter the chroot,

I have taken your config and compared it against pappy's and mine then opened it with make oldconfig and then opened it with make menuconfig to add missing items. the only item i saw that could remotely be linked to your panic was config_ahci _platform=y. very unlikely. Other possibilities:
If you are using /dev/hda nomenclature in /etc/fstab and /boot/grub/grub.conf you should be using /dev/sda type names.
Are you sure /boot partition was mounted when you compiled and copied the new kernel?
to get the new (hopefully improved) kernel:
boot cd, mount gentoo partitions, enter the chroot,

Okay, followed the steps laid out, and it has changed things a bit, however, I'm still getting a kernel panic. but now it's the following:

Code:

vfs unable to mount root fs on unknown-block

I have checked and double checked my configurations. I am using sda nomenclature, and have been for quite some time now. So that is eliminated as a possibility. I think the answer lies within the kernel settings for my hardware controller, it's just finding it that's the issue. Allow me to post a few lines in my grub.conf:

let us note that the second option, the Zen, boots without the panic, but the first option, the Gentoo Sources, is having the panic. Have I entered anything wrong in my grub.conf? Or is that part correct. I am happy to post a picture with my panic if you think it would be helpful, but it will be tomorrow.

The link provided did offer some insight as to what is causing my problem, and it was a very good page and allowed me to discover that I had forgotten a couple of things, but that did not help. I really do appreciate the help I am getting here, I know you all must have much more important work to do, so thanks so much!!

actually, lvm is involved. I never thought about this, but revdep-rebuild tried to rebuild lvm, and at first it was failing because it claimed that it could not find a kernel .config file. Now it is failing because of something else: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=6ttjFDUn

That's as far back as I can go. I did read some things about a bug in lvm2.2.02.95-r1, but I am trying to use the stable version. This is actually the reason that I am attempting to upgrade my kernel. I do see warning messages when I boot into the zen kernel that lvm failed to start, but it boots anyway. I hope this is relevant.

have you run through the grub.conf drill I proposed earlier?
I am 99.99% confident that a kernel compiled with the current config would boot a new basic handbook install.
It is possible the zen kernel is naming the hard drives differently than the gentoo-sources kernel, the drill should eliminate or confirm.
or
lvm?
Could you post the result of

have you run through the grub.conf drill I proposed earlier?
I am 99.99% confident that a kernel compiled with the current config would boot a new basic handbook install.
It is possible the zen kernel is naming the hard drives differently than the gentoo-sources kernel, the drill should eliminate or confirm.
or
lvm?

I actually haven't run through the drill yet simply because of the fdisk -l output below. I am a bit confused about the drive names. Is it possible that the drives could be re-named by a kernel and still be set as "sda1, 2, 3 etc"? Or does the kernel just say it, and grub happily do it?

I tried the grub drill that you showed me, I did sda, b, and c 1- 9 on each, and each fail with the same kernel panic as before. I was so hoping that it would work. I hope this is useful information, because I kind of feel like I am hitting a brick wall.

does the panic screen have anything like Driver: sd or Driver: sr
or
Available partitions:
if partitions, which are listed
boot to your Bios; what modes are your hard drive controllers in? what choices are available._________________Defund the FCC.

does the panic screen have anything like Driver: sd or Driver: sr
or
Available partitions:
if partitions, which are listed
boot to your Bios; what modes are your hard drive controllers in? what choices are available.

Actually, no, here are the images of the panic screen. the two images are of the same screen, I just took two for the sake of clarity.

In your BIOS, Native IDE mode is provided only to allow windows XP users to install the AHCI drivers.
Native IDE normally has missing functionality is iintended to be used once only by Windows XP users and never by anyone else.

Choose AHCI mode. Raid mode is for fakeraid with your drives set up the way you have, you don't want that.

DONAHUE wrote:

I have taken your config and compared it against pappy's and mine then opened it with make oldconfig and then opened it with make menuconfig to add missing items. the only item i saw that could remotely be linked to your panic was config_ahci _platform=y. very unlikely

Strange that. My desktop has the same AMD chipset as my HP Microserver. The microserver needs that option but my desktop doesn't.

I have not looked at DONAHUEs .config file but he usually knows what hes doing.
Maybe something went wrong with the kernel install, so you didn't actually use DONAHUEs kernel._________________Regards,

NeddySeagoon

Computer users fall into two groups:-
those that do backups
those that have never had a hard drive fail.

In your BIOS, Native IDE mode is provided only to allow windows XP users to install the AHCI drivers.
Native IDE normally has missing functionality is iintended to be used once only by Windows XP users and never by anyone else.

Choose AHCI mode. Raid mode is for fakeraid with your drives set up the way you have, you don't want that.

DONAHUE wrote:

I have taken your config and compared it against pappy's and mine then opened it with make oldconfig and then opened it with make menuconfig to add missing items. the only item i saw that could remotely be linked to your panic was config_ahci _platform=y. very unlikely

Strange that. My desktop has the same AMD chipset as my HP Microserver. The microserver needs that option but my desktop doesn't.

I have not looked at DONAHUEs .config file but he usually knows what hes doing.
Maybe something went wrong with the kernel install, so you didn't actually use DONAHUEs kernel.

Okay, back up and running, it was a dim-witted oversight on my part, grub reinstalled, all is good. I do notice an increase in speed in AHCI mode. maybe I need to go back to that post and try again. I did notice when I used make oldconfig that there were a lot of options to choose and I may have messed that part up.

Okay, I have some promising news. First of all, we're still not quite there yet. Secondly, there is no more kernel panic!! that is done, the kernel itself actually boots. there are some problems, though, first of all, LVM is still not loading. Also, it times out while trying to start eth1 (not sure why). and after the kernel finishes booting, I get a small icon for a few seconds, then a black screen. Something tells me that my display driver may not be exactly right on that one. I would really rather not say what I did to get passed the panic, but I will. I re-compiled the kernel by using: make && make modules_install && make install, rebooted, and there we have that. I was excited for a bit, but now I realize I'm up against a new problem.